Toyota Awards Santiago Grad, Girltank, $50k at New York Women in the World Summit

Earlier this month, Santiago Founder Institute graduate, girltank was honored at the Fourth Annual Women in the World Summit in New York. The social entrepreneurship startup was recognized as a “Mother of Innovation” and awarded a $50,000 grant by Toyota to honor their creativity, drive and determination in fostering social good while supporting their projects that impact positive change. Girltank, along with Recoverers.org and Fenugreen, were also awarded an additional $15,000 grant to ‘pay-it-forward’ to another innovative organization or cause of their choice.

Girltank’s mission to empower women to implement social change in their respective communities has been spreading rapidly since their graduation from the Santiago chapter last year. The online crowd-funding platform enables women and girls to share their social incentives with the world, and increases visibility for donors and investors. Thus far their efforts have mobilized approximately 1,500 women change-makers from 104 countries.

In response to their recognition at the Women in the World Summit, Co-founder Sejal Hathis and strategist Heather Burke were recently featured on a segment of CBS News. In the segment, Hathis and Burke explain the premise behind the platform, and describe it as a means for “maximizing impact for social change”. By providing a single platform to showcase their projects and visions for their communities, 'girltankers' have a much greater opportunity to have their voices and causes heard worldwide.

The Founder Institute is the world's largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program, helping aspiring founders across the globe build enduring technology companies. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 50 countries, the Founder Institute has helped launch over 1,563 companies in 5 years. The company's mission is to "Globalize Silicon Valley" and build sustainable startup ecosystems that will create one million new jobs worldwide.